


Potential

by kuonji



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: F/M, Humor, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-31
Updated: 2012-03-31
Packaged: 2017-11-02 19:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/372480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuonji/pseuds/kuonji
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"You like him, don't you."  </em>Daniel brings Sam some ideas.  And a snack.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potential

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative Links:  
> <http://kuonji14.livejournal.com/8737.html>

"You like him, don't you."

Sam half-raised her head but kept her eyes on the instruments in front of her. Static levels stable. Ion generation in low to acceptable range. Perfect. "What?"

"Jack."

She looked automatically to the doorway, before replaying the prior sentence. "What?" she repeated, in a very different tone. She turned her gaze on Daniel for the first time since he entered the room five minutes ago. His mouth was full of power bar. He leaned on her lab counter, blue fatigues rolled up to mid-arm, scraggly eyebrows mid-stratosphere.

She picked up the power bar he'd brought for her. Opened it. Apple cinnamon. Her favorite.

"Sam."

"Daniel." She felt absurdly like the Colonel. A dozen of his and Daniel's proper noun conversations floated through her head.

"Sam!"

"What do you want me to say?" This was a horrible place to be having this conversation. What if the Colonel walked in? Or any other airman.

"It's three in the morning. You can say anything you want." He gestured expansively with one flippered-fingered hand.

She found herself fidgeting with the dials of the electron microscope next to her elbow and jerked herself away. It was going to take ten minutes for her to recalibrate it tomorrow, damn Daniel and his food-bearing ways. "Fine. Yes. But it doesn't matter."

"Why don't you just...?"

"Because he'd shoot it down. You know he would. And that'd be just as he should do."

"Why?"

"Why which?" For a guy who could talk about Mayan friezes for twenty minutes at a stretch, Daniel was almost cryptically economical with his words in everyday conversation.

"Why should he object?"

"Daniel. You've been working with us" -- meaning the USAF -- "for years now. You know it's against regs."

"But it doesn't make any sense."

"It makes all kinds of sense. Just the chain of command issues alone--"

"Sam."

Sam sighed. "I don't want to be 'the Colonel's girl'. And the Colonel doesn't want to be 'that pervy CO'. It'd break down our reputations, ruin our careers... Not to mention, you just shouldn't spend 100% of your time with your SO, anyway. Can you imagine how crazy it'd drive us?"

"Oh." Daniel frowned, the wrinkle lines piling up on his forehead. "What about Ferretti and Dr. Colburn? She's been on his team for two years now, and they've been dating for at least the last half of that."

Sam hid a grin. "That's different. For one thing, she's a civilian. So all they really prove is that the Colonel could be dating _you_."

Crumbs sprayed across her countertop. She'd probably have to do a lot of sweeping later. It was worth it, though, to see the look on Daniel's face. "Water's in the corner," Sam reminded him pleasantly.

He went with resentment to pour himself a cup. On the way back, he tossed his rolled up power bar wrapper towards the trash can. Perfect three-point.

"It'd never work," he remarked, once again ensconced in the lab stool across from hers. "I'd have to kill him within the first week."

Sam smiled. Daniel gave consideration to everything she said, even when "It was a joke, Daniel. Relax."

"Oh. Well, of course. I mean, that would have made us rivals. Not so good for team dynamics, right?"

Sam stared, until Daniel cracked a grin. "You're a riot," she said, shaking her head. Daniel was an unassuming devil at the most remarkable times.

"Hey, I think we're straying from the topic here."

"There is no topic."

"Sam--"

"Daniel, drop it." She could only talk about this for so long. She was only human. Thinking about her lack of a relationship depressed her as much as the next gal.

He tapped his fingers on the countertop, clearly not ready to give up. "What about Teal'c?"

"What?"

"You could date him, right? He's not Earth military."

She had to think about that. "I guess. I mean, if he weren't married, right?"

"Oh. Yeah." Daniel crossed his arms, touching his thumb thoughtfully to his full bottom lip. "Okay, so it has to be a civilian. Someone outside of the program would probably be best, right?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Just the opposite. Can you imagine our dinner conversation? How was your day, honey? Oh you know, just like always: _Classified_."

"That's pretty limiting, isn't it? Basically, it'd have to be a civilian in the program."

"Basically... yeah. So I have, what thirty people in the mountain to choose from? Unless I'm looking for long-distance. Wow, thanks for depressing me even more."

"Sorry!"

"Oh, and one more parameter: It'd have to be someone outside of my chain of command."

"I guess that puts your lab assistants out of the equation. They're all under your command, right?"

Sam nodded, affirmative. This was really giving her a headache.

Daniel frowned, no doubt running permutations in his head for her benefit. "Hey, what about me?"

Sam's eyes widened. "Well, I guess you're not technically under my command. Although under your contract with the Air Force, you have to defer to me and the Colonel when possible."

"Yeah, I know. I mean... the other thing."

She studied his face. "Are you offering?"

"Oh! No! I mean..." His hands flapped through the air, finally settling flat on the table. "I-- Actually. I don't know. I mean, it could work, right? Theoretically."

It was Sam's turn to lick her lips, nervous. It could. She was happy with him, and he talked to her with an openness he reserved for a very few people. "Well. Theoretically, I'd accept. I think."

"Um? Really?" He studied her from under his lashes, shoulders just slightly hunched. "I don't really have, uh, much experience with this. The- The propositioning thing." He fanned one hand between them. "It's usually the other way around."

Sam sat back in her seat, muscles careful and slow. "Me, too, actually."

"Hm."

"So. Where does that leave us?"

An electronic squeal saved both of them from having to answer that question. There were a few seconds of flurried controlled panic, while Sam saved her experiment from exploding tiny chunks of naquadah all over the room. She shut it down, not trusting herself to continue the delicate work tonight, even though she'd been just one more datapoint away from done when Daniel had walked in.

"Wow." Sam grinned. She could hear the wide eyes and open mouth in Daniel's voice. "Does that happen a lot, or were we about to die horribly?"

"What if I said yes to both?"

Daniel's eyebrows ratcheted up another centimeter.

"Just kidding. The sensor was just telling me that the electrostatic potential was building up too strong a charge. But don't worry; we were well within the safety range. Naquadah can hold enormous amounts of energy before--" She broke off, seeing Daniel's eyes glaze over.

Suddenly, she recalled what they'd been discussing before. She decided now was a perfect time to occupy her mouth with finishing off her power bar. She tipped the last crumbs of her apple cinnamon snack into her mouth, crumpled the wrapper, then tossed it expertly into the trash can in the corner.

"Good shot," Daniel commented.

"You, too."

"Thanks." He rolled his lips in and stared at her intently. "So..."

She dropped her eyes to her lap. "So...?"

"Potential, huh?"

Not too subtle. But hey, Sam was a straightforward gal, herself. She shrugged and agreed: "Potential."

Small but unstoppable, she felt herself smiling, and when she raised her head, she saw that Daniel was, too.

  
END.


End file.
